THE Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil quizzed Iain Duncan Smith after he suggested jobseekers in Merthyr should get on a bus to find work in Cardiff.

Following the comment, which caused uproar among Merthyr’s unemployed, Iain Duncan Smith declined an interview with the Merthyr Express.

But the Conservative work and pensions secretary did agree to meet Mayor Clive Tovey last week.

Mr Tovey said: “Iain Duncan Smith assured me that his comment about ‘getting on a bus’ referred to the gentleman on the Sky programme on which he had been asked to comment – it was in no way an attack on the unemployed residents of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil. I have met ex-miners who travel to Bath every day and workers in the building industry travel many miles to work.

“A friend who lived in my house a few years back used to travel to Cardiff by bus every day! Most residents of this borough are prepared to travel to find work.

“Much has been written about comments made by IDS (Iain Duncan Smith), but in retrospect I cannot recall him ‘knocking Merthyr’ on the television.”

The former Conservative leader caused a storm by suggesting Merthyr’s unemployed did not realise they could get jobs in Cardiff.

He said: “There was a very good programme the other day that talked about Merthyr Tydfil and about the fact there were jobs in Cardiff, but many of them had become static and didn’t know that if they got on a bus, an hour’s journey, they would be in Cardiff and they can look for a job there.”

The remarks were an echo of 1980s Tory minister Norman Tebbit’s famous line about his father, who “got on his bike and looked for work” after losing his job.

But Mayor Tovey said he was happy Iain Duncan Smith did not intend to make any untoward comment about the residents of Merthyr Tydfil.

He said: “There is a big difference between suggesting that there is unemployment in Merthyr Tydfil because people are not prepared to travel to Cardiff and suggesting that an individual should catch a bus to Cardiff.

“IDS appeared to be to be a warm, friendly and sincere person and I have invited him to visit the Gurnos.

“It will always remain folklore that IDS said the Merthyr Tydfil’s unemployed should ‘get on a bus’ to seek work in Cardiff. What his exact (unedited) words were, and in what context they were made, I will never be sure.”